Carolyn Collins Petersen
JWST Sees the Most Distant Galaxy Ever, Just 300 Million Years After the Big Bang
By now, almost everyone has seen the first-release images from JWST and marveled at these amazing views of the infrared…
A Dormant Black Hole has Been Discovered Just Outside the Milky Way
What happens when a massive star dies? Conventional wisdom (and observational evidence) say that it can collapse to form a…
We Finally Know Where the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays are Coming From: Blazars
Way out there in space is a class of objects called blazars. Think of them as extreme particle accelerators, able…
A New Instrument is Going to the ISS to Study the Climate Impact of Dust in Earth’s Upper Atmosphere
People often seem surprised when they learn that NASA doesn't just look out to the other planets, stars, and galaxies.…
A Star Came too Close to a Black Hole and was Torn Apart. Surprisingly Little Actually Went In
What happens when a star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole? The obvious story is that it gets…
Dusty Dark Galaxies in the Early Universe Revealed in Various Wavelengths
Well, this is the week for distant galaxies, isn't it? Not only has JWST revealed some of the most distant…
Good News! One JWST Picture Early!
For everybody waiting with bated breath for Tuesday's release of the first James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) images, NASA's doing…
When did the Sun Blow Away the Solar Nebula?
The story of our solar system's origin is pretty well known. It goes like this: the Sun began as a…
One Star Flies Past the Milky Way’s Black Hole at 3% the Speed of Light
There's a population of stars in the heart of our galaxy whipping around Sagittarius A* (the Milky Way's central supermassive…
Most Black Holes Spin Rapidly. This one… Doesn’t
A Chandra X-ray Observatory view of the supermassive black hole at the heart of quasar H1821+643. Courtesy NASA/CXC/Univ. of Cambridge/J.…